Why do you favor the Windows OS?

[Luke]

We were at the Falls Park actually. http://www.fallspark.com/index_content.html
Simply beautiful.

Let me get back to you about the computer problem, Ive got a meeting in four minutes I need to go to.

PM'ed ya.

[kevinski]

Not true. The 10.4, 10.5 upgrades aren't service packs. They had hundreds of features. The jump from 10.4 was huge, in that the interface changed (mostly for the better). More uniform windows, quickview (so handy and something that I miss having on Windows), more stable, better support for multi-core processors, 64 bit support, better spotlight (ability to launch any program from it, find files much faster, search the internet, check dictionary, input equations instead of loading up calculator, check wikipedia) all from a simple command+space button press (this feature is invaluable to me) that's just off the top of my head, there was literally thousands of tweaks in that upgrade. Think of it like the jump from Vista to Windows 7, that's the scale of the upgrade we are talking here. Plus Apple only charge £50 (£35 with student discount ) for these OS upgrades, compared to Microsoft's (£100+ for the most basic version).

Wow, if I didn't know any better, then I'd think that uniformity between windows, increased stability, improved support for multi-core processors, 64-bit support, improved search functionality and improved search performance sound like service pack-worthy tweaks. As for the other features, wow...if that's what constitutes paying the cost of a new version of Mac OS, then I can understand why Mac users enjoy themselves. As they say, ignorance is bliss. And a lot of Mac users are clueless, so they're happy.

And anyone can make the claim of "hundreds" of changes or additions when they're that insignificant. Oh, changed a font. That's one! Fixed something that I broke before! That's two!

The limited hardware works in their favour, systems are more stable and more reliable. I never have kernal panics on my Mac apart from when my RAM started to fail, I drove to the Apple store and had it fixed, free of charge while I waited. Tell me when you could ever do that with a Windows PC.

And I'm sure that they didn't fix it out of warranty obligations, eh? Really, the difference here is that Windows PC's can be serviced in far more locations. If they have problems, then they're usually due to installation problems or incompetent users.

More and more games are getting Mac versions. I think the only games that don't tend to get OS X versions are FPS. Pretty much every game made by EA on PC get's a OS X version. Some games like Spore or The Sims 3 have both versions on the same disc. It's simply not true to state that OS X doesn't play games, it does, it's just not every single software developer has got on board yet.

I realize that Mac OS has games, but it simply doesn't have nearly as many games as Windows does. I like variety, and Windows has that.

What the hell are you talking about? You've never had to upgrade your OS use a new iPod with it. The drivers are built into iTunes. The only time they have forced you to upgrade to use the latest iTunes is from OS 10.3 but that OS is well over 10 years old. Even then I'm pretty sure there are workarounds.

Straight from Apple's Web site, here are the minimum system requirements if you're using an iPod Touch with a Mac:

Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later
iTunes 8 or later9

Now, for the iPod classic:

Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later
iTunes 8 or later

Now, is there any particular reason that Tiger is required for any given iPod when the iTunes software has been around since OS 9? Really, any version of OS X (10) should work with iTunes. I realize that older iPods don't require the updates, but I'm sure that you'll notice from checking the system "requirements" for older iPods that some iPods required updates on the Mac side. Isn't it amusing how Apple somehow manages to get the newest iterations of iPods and the newest versions of iTunes working with Windows XP, which - oddly - just happens to be even older than the original version of OS X? Wouldn't you consider that to be even the least bit suspicious?

System requirements, my ass.

That really is pathetic

Why, thank you.

[otaku]

I've tried many flavors of linux, mac os and windows os. I am a windows for the power it enables me with mostly for gaming but other tasks as well it has been shown that xp and vista running on the same hardware as mac osx are both more powerful maybe less secure and friendly and less pretty but more powerful. I like linux but it needs more gaming support and I tend to run into compatibility issues its really just something I like to tinker with rather than something practical to use everday. That said I am much more a fan of open source than apple stuff for instance I am really torn between getting an iphone (sexy and loads of games) and a mytouch3g with google's os on it because it is open source. At this point though the sexy/game machine will likely win

[General Chaos]

The overwhelming reason is probably that I'm just fairly irked by the whole mac culture.

I could probably be proved wrong, but I also feel like I can tinker and tweak my windows experience more, I can run many more games and programs that I use, and I've always used windows (post DOS) so it just feels familiar and easy to use.

I also feel like people overemphasize the mac's user friendliness to the point of dumbing down the content and content delivery. I would rather spend more time researching and figuring out windows' issues, tweaking my experience and understanding the OS and be able to do more complex things than have what seems to be a much more shallow experience on a mac os.

[nick944]

My main problem with Macs is the propritary hardware. Honestly if the sold OS X that would run on any standard computer I would buy it. I know doing that would cause more compatibility problems, but overall the mac OS layout and price are just right. Also, I happen to hate iPods. My current MP3 player is a Creative Zen Vision:M which like most other MP3 players does not support Mac or Linux. Sure there are alternate pieces of software that will try to emulate the original, but I've never found one that has worked as good. As for problems with Windows, I rarely run into anything that doesn't take 2 seconds to fix. Get a virus on windows? Honestly it's 100% your fault. If you run the right software you will never see any major problems. Linux is great imho. If I happened to find a good MP3 program I would have it as my main OS.

[gtmtnbiker]

Aside from the various aformentioned reasons, I recently found a huge reason that will keep me from ever adopting a Mac. The Mac keyboard has the Option key in the same place as control, and the squiggly symbol key in the same place as the Windows key. But you use the squiggly symbol key as your shift key for shortcuts, like copy and paste. Why, oh why, must the placement be so fundamentally wrong?

The same argument could be made for Sun keyboards. They have the CTRL where the CAPS-lock and the caps-lock where the CTRL key is. I remember having a Sun workstation and a PC in my office back in 93. It was annoying to go back and forth. So I gave up the Sun and went with eXceed on Windows for my X applications. So I guess I'm used to the PC layout by now.

Some laptops will change the layout slightly. Not too long ago, I was trying the C64 emulator and was confused by the key layout there. It seems that the double-quote was Shift-2 which was the original type-writer layout I believe.

[kevinski]

The same argument could be made for Sun keyboards. They have the CTRL where the CAPS-lock and the caps-lock where the CTRL key is. I remember having a Sun workstation and a PC in my office back in 93. It was annoying to go back and forth. So I gave up the Sun and went with eXceed on Windows for my X applications. So I guess I'm used to the PC layout by now.

Some laptops will change the layout slightly. Not too long ago, I was trying the C64 emulator and was confused by the key layout there. It seems that the double-quote was Shift-2 which was the original type-writer layout I believe.

I actually like the idea of the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys being switched. I've never used a Sun keyboard, but I honestly don't use Caps Lock all that much. I'm using a laptop-style keyboard that I absolutely love, but I think that I'd like it more if it had the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys switched around. I hate using Caps Lock in games, because I hate the fact that the light on my keyboard turns on and off. It's just a pet peeve of mine. Caps Lock shouldn't even exist.

[Jrecee]

-Cheaper
-2nd nature, I've been using windows for over half my life
-mouse acceleration on mac sucks (and isn't fixable so don't get this confused with mouse speed or the actual device)
-I like the way the taskbar works on windows versus the dock/taskbar thing mac uses
-I use a lot of pc only programs that DO NOT have a mac version or even an equivelent
-I like it

[zarathstra]

I've used Macs before, and I just wasn't terribly impressed with the operating system. It felt like I was back riding a bike with training wheels or something. Windows has always done everything I wanted it to do with a minimum of fuss, I can tinker with the hardware (which I can buy from whatever company I please) and it has a much wider selection of games that I don't have to jump through hoops to play.

As for Linux...in my experience, Linux is great for 2 kinds of users:

1. Novices who only use the computer for the internet and e-mail.
2. Extremely high end users who have the knowledge, patince, and experience to set it up exactly that way they want.

I fall somewhere in the middle, so it doesn't work for me.

Plus, Macs are freaking expensive, and their ads annoy the crap out of me. If you want to convert me to using your operating system, plying that I'm a dorky loser for using Windows is not the best way to go about it.

[Budsmoka]

For art macs all the way for everything else theres windows.